Applications for FOCUS grants – artistic grants available to students in any department – are due Thursday, and the possibilities for projects are almost limitless.

Katherine Brown, senior in art and design, said the program is an excellent opportunity for students who have had an idea in the back of their minds for a long time.

“It’s a really great experience to have if you have any remotely creative abilities at all,” Brown said.

While students may not have the time to whip up a brand-new idea and apply this fall, the program has an additional deadline in April, in which projects are shown in an exhibit in April 2009.

Brown is on the selection committee this year for the FOCUS grants program, and she was awarded a grant last year, which she used to create five mixed media books about her experiences studying abroad in France and Rome.

Letitia Kenemer, director of the Workspace, said students can submit dance and writing projects as well as fine arts projects. Both traditional and experimental ideas – if well-developed – are acceptable, she said.

Kenemer said this coming April’s exhibit will honor Iowa State’s 150th anniversary, incorporating projects that date back to 1972.

Having a well-thought-out plan is important, both Brown and Kenemer said.

“I had a very clear budget, with what exactly all the money was going towards,” Brown said. “I was also able to bring in visual examples of what I was proposing to do.”

Brown said she also brought in visual examples of her idea, such as a book cover illustrating what she planned to do.

“The experience really helped me appreciate using a real, live time frame to complete art,” Brown said.

She said it also provided her with a piece of artwork created outside of a class that she could show to graduate schools and employers.

Kenemer said some of the most interesting projects she has seen over the years included graffiti projections onto the sides of trains and a book written about the history of polka in Iowa.

Paintings of graffiti were projected on moving trains and the whole process was captured on video. The students involved had permission from the appropriate people in order to perform this project, she said.

Other examples of past work include paintings on a much larger scale than students could otherwise afford.

Kenemer said she completed a body-casting sculpture project with the FOCUS grant she received as an ISU student. Her project was shown in 1996, she said.

In addition to gaining the practical skill of applying for a grant, which is important for all artists, Kenemer echoed Brown’s appreciation for having her own project to work on outside of classes.

“I had to have the initiative and drive to do it on my own,” Kenemer said.

Information about FOCUS grants, including guidelines for applications, can be found at www.lectures.iastate.edu/about/focusgrants.php.